The Conduct of Statistical Consulting Sessions Between Statisticians and the Researchers with Whom They Interact: A Survey of Consulting Clients from Academic Settings

In an academic setting, statistical consultants play the invaluable role of helping researchers from other fields with statistical issues (e.g., data analysis and study design) that come up in their research. To be effective in providing statistical consulting, it is important that statistical consultants conduct statistical consulting sessions in a manner that is beneficial to clients. To better accomplish this, consultants need to understand the perspectives of clients on the receiving end of statistical advice. If consultants fail to understand the aspects of consulting sessions that clients value, they are at risk of doing a disservice to those clients.